Lutheran Social Services of Mid-America sheds its long, confusing name and opts for a sleek, more focused brand.

By Christine Weiser

Development’s role
The rebranding also proved to be an easy segue into new fundraising efforts.

“The new brand was a nice opportunity to go out and meet the donors,” says Shannon Schaeffer, director of resource development for Graceworks. “Some of the donors were apprehensive about the new name. They like to hear that our mission isn’t changing.”

After meeting with key donors, Graceworks launched a successful internal campaign, where the organization solicited from employees and yielded a 46 percent response.

“I believe the branding efforts brought so many people into the loop and opened a lot of doors,” Schaeffer continues. “It was very helpful in re-establishing relationships and gave us the opportunity to tell our story of faithful caring.”

Christine Weiser is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer and publisher of “Philadelphia Stories,” a nonprofit literary-arts publication.